The present invention relates generally to incinerators, and more particularly is directed to an incineration system including one or more portable incinerators in combination with non-portable air pollution control equipment especially suited for the recovery of valuable metals, copper, etc. from electrical and other scrap material.
It is now usual practice in most political subdivisions to require the installation of suitable mechanical equipment for control of air pollutants resulting from the incineration of combustible solids and liquid. Air pollution control equipment of known types have included afterburners, settling chambers, scrubbers, electrostatic cleaners, spray chambers, baghouses and the like. A wide variety of more or less sophisticated or specialized equipment has been developed by prior workers in the art and such equipment is presently available to clean the effluent air from numerous polluting activities such as various industrial processes and incineration. In the case of permanent installations that are permanently fixed in location, pollution control equipment and systems can be designed and installed in accordance with known practice to provide satisfactory operating installations of suitable effectiveness and efficiency to comply with the requirements of known standards such as air pollution control ordinances promulgated and approved by numerous municipalities and states, and the federal government.
Problems have arisen in certain situations where, due to the nature and composition of the material to be burned, such materials cannot be conveniently placed within fixed incineration equipment. Combustibles such as the insulation covering scrap wire and the fibrous materials of printed circuit boards pose a unique incineration problem because of material handling difficulties. Such scrap wire normally is cumbersome, unwieldly and generally uneconomical to transport to a fixed incinerator. It is necessary and desirable, however, to remove the combustible insulation from the wire to reclaim the wire. One solution to such a problem has been described in detail in Spitz U.S. Pat. No. 3,076,421 which patent is assigned to the assignee of the present application. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,076,421, a novel process for handling scrap wire has been disclosed wherein a portable, conical, shell type incinerator was moved by crane over a pile of scrap wire for incineration purposes rather than the more conventional method of transporting the combustible material to a fixed incineration plant.
An afterburner for pollution control was provided as an integral part of the portable incinerator, supplied with fuel gas through a flexible tube. This contributed a substantial amount of weight to the unit and also added to its overall height. This present invention with a separate, fixed afterburner, allows a wide choice of pollution control and heat recovery processes and equipment. The present invention also considerably reduces the height and weight of the portable primary combustion chamber. Additionally, it eliminates the need for flexible fuel connections and permits the use of any fuel, gas, oil or even pulverized coal in the afterburner. With a waste heat boiler or other device, heat from the afterburner, which is wasted in the process of U.S. Pat. No. 3,076,421, can be reclaimed. The portable part of the system, the primary combustion chamber, which receives the greatest wear, is considerably simplified, and is economical to repair or replace.